I really do love Singapore!

This place really grows on you. I mean, they let you stay for free and everything! The people down here are "folks." Believe, Japanese are NOT folks. I like it here better...and...the temps are cooler, believe it or not. I was a man about the island today. Went to Changi Airport to get my ticket to Thailand--I leave early in the morning to go to Chiang Mai. I've heard that Chiang Mai is a nice, cultural town in northern Thailand. I'll go there first, then make my way down Thailand to Bangkok and then the coast.

I had just an amazing lunch today in a little town about 10 miles from where I'm staying. I'm at Sembawang, which is in the far south (well, as far as you can get on a small island). The lunch was a huge plate of massive, butteflied prawns lightly coated and topped with kind of a crunch cereal and these amazing crunchy, fried chili pepper leaves. Washed it down with a local brewski and it was yummy. Came back to the room for a couple of hours then headed back to Chinatown for dinner. I ate Chinese dim sum at around 10pm--and the downtown was humming. Problem was: I ate dim sum and den sum and den sum more. I'm stuffed even now, and it's almost midnight.

Anyway, I'm heading off to bed. By the way, travel around SE Asia is cheap. Airfare to Chiang Mai was $85 one way. It was cost me $39 to fly from there down to Bangkok, but I might just end up taking the slow boat to China. Arh, arh.

Next message WILL be from Siam.

Ted